Do the string of electoral defeats for the Left in Latin America in countries like Argentina and Venezuela mean that the Left advance is being reversed? If so, what are the reasons?

Balakrishnan, Chennai

THE recent electoral setbacks suffered by the Left and the Centre-left forces in Latin America are part of a renewed rightwing offensive.  There are various shades of Left parties and governments ranging from the social democratic-populist nationalist parties and governments in Brazil and Argentina and the more Left and radical governments in Venezuela, Bolivia and Uruguay. In Argentina, the presidential election was won by a rightwing candidate defeating the Peronist candidate last November.  This will mark a reversal of the policies of State intervention to protect national sovereignty pursued in the last thirteen years by President Kirchner and after him, by his wife Cristina Fernandez.

In Brazil, where the Centre-left Workers Party has been ruling for nearly one and a half decades under President Lula and later Dilma Rousseff, the government is plagued with corruption charges and the rightwing parties are gaining support.  There is a failure to carry out alternative policies to neo-liberalism despite some major steps taken for poverty alleviation.

In Venezuela, where the Bolivarian revolutionary movement under Hugo Chavez had established a Leftwing government for the past nearly two decades, in the elections to the National Assembly, the rightwing coalition won a near two-thirds majority. However, much of the executive power rests with President Nicolas Maduro who belongs to the Chavez founded United Socialist Party. 

In Venezuela, the struggle between the rightwing forces backed by US imperialism and the Left progressive forces has sharpened. It will be premature to say that the Left tide is being reversed in Venezuela.  The Venezuelan economy is in doldrums particularly after the steep fall in the price of oil. The living conditions of the people have deteriorated due to high prices, shortage of essential goods  and rising crime.  Venezuela is a highly unequal capitalist society wherein the Left government has been seeking to bring about basic changes. There have been substantial advances made in literacy, education, health and providing subsidised food.

If the Venezuelan president and the Chavistas can take radical steps to stimulate the economy ensuring that the basic needs and rights of the working people are protected and build the popular unity to fight back the rightwing attacks, then the situation can be changed. The Bolivarian revolutionary movement has strong support in the armed forces and the higher judiciary.  President Maduro’s term is there till 2019.  So, despite the difficulties and the odds, if the Chavistas and the Left forces can mobilise the people to fight back and rectify the serious shortcomings in the economic front and the corruption in the system, they can successfully fight back the current rightwing attacks.

The electoral successes and the establishment of Left oriented governments marked an advance for the Left and progressive forces and the struggle against neo-liberalism and imperialism. However, this does not mean that these countries were able to establish socialism and the bourgeois forces, along with their international patrons, are very much in play.  As we know from our own experience in India, there can be electoral defeats but that will be temporary if the revolutionary movement advances through class struggle and social movements.